Missing people conundrum: Concern expressed over enforced disappearances

Panelists discuss Mohammed Hanif’s new book, ‘The Baloch who is not missing and others who are’.

KARACHI:

The Baloch missing persons issue is back in the news ahead of the upcoming general elections amid complaints that protests over disappearances are not given the necessary coverage. The intelligentsia is equally responsible along with the rulers for the prevailing mess, said participants at a panel discussion organised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and Karachi Arts Council on Wednesday.

The participants were unanimous in condemning the role of intelligence agencies and involvement of the army in the affairs of state. The intelligence agencies, they said, had deliberately created a situation where Baloch people demanded separation and showed hatred towards law enforcement agencies.

The discussion was organised to review the prevailing situation in Balochistan in the light of Mohammed Hanif’s book, The Baloch who is not missing and others who are. The book narrates tales of six Baloch missing persons and the pain their families underwent. It has been translated into Urdu as well. Participants included members of civil society organisations, nationalist parties and journalists.

“How come family members of Baloch parliamentarians have not been abducted?” asked Farzana Majeed, sister of a missing person, Zakir Majeed. “Why people from Punjab are not disappearing?” Farzana was bitter that people occasionally dropped by to express solidarity and international media came but nothing changed. “I even spent my Eid in a protest camp”

Farzana is among the peeople whose pain have been described in Hanif’s book.



“The army and agencies are paid by the nation and it is the right of the people to limit them,” said Hanif. He also said that excesses of agencies have not been highlighted as much as they need to be and this makes us complicit in worsening the situation.

HRCP Chairperson Zohra Yusuf said that the government has not taken serious measures to tackle the situation in Balochistan.

“It is a dangerous situation in Balochistan. Bodies of missing persons are found from Karachi. We’ll have serious consequences in future, if we delay the action any further,” she added. She hoped that the protests over disappearances would continue.

National Party’s Mir Hasil Bizenjo openly alleged that Pakistan’s intelligence agencies were involved in the disappearance of Baloch. “No one else could dare it. They are patronizing groups in Balochistan against the Baloch people.”

Bizenjo also criticised the role of Pakistan army, saying that lessons from 1971 have not been learnt.

Elaborating on the history of missing persons, Wusatullah Khan, a journalist who has translated Hanif’s book, said that the parliament has to limit the army and intelligence agencies. “The army has to serve at borders but it was given the powers to secure an ‘ideology’ when General Zia-ul Haq was in power. It should be restricted now.”

The participants also said that same kinds of cases of disappearance had been reported in Sindh as well.

“The situation is pathetic. We are fighting the war on the basis of ethnicity and normalcy wouldn’t return if we continue it,” said Amanullah, a participant.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th, 2013.